The Look Back Look Forward - HfG ULM conference (very successfully conducted and documented by Prof Ranjan and his team) generated several discussions about the design thinking and research scenario in the present day India. While most of us felt that is merely a snippet of what is to come, it did initiate many important thoughts.
This brings me to two specific points that I have personally wanted to develop further on. Whether or not directly related to design research, these in my opinion do impact the philosophy of design - hence probably tell us what needs to (and what does not) be re looked at in the design schools and design studios. The first is mentioned below - the second one would need another post considering the length of this one alone!
Contemporary Indian Design: A case of a missing identity?
What is contemporary Indian Design? Does the design (or designers) from India have an identity that speaks of Indian design beyond the showcase of traditional Indian motifs largely seen on the ramps of the largest fashion shows across the world? While we as design students have been most inspired (read could relate to) the post modern and contemporary art and design movements - did we forget to understand the potential of what our roots could give us. And by this I do not mean to harp on the 'Indian culture and traditions' that we have heard of so many times before - most of the times distorted and quoted out of context - to the extent of giving nothing but embarrassment in the name of being Indian. (eg, Bollywood flicks full of their song and dance sequence and zardozi lehengas - cant blame outsiders for thinking that this in fact is the true India - that mixed with some more poverty and run down cabs - thanks to Danny Boyle's saga of poverty in India!)
On a more serious note - this is a question that came to my mind while I was developing a line of what I call contemporary furniture. The fact that it was conceptualized by an Indian (in this case me) would suffice to make it an Indian design or would it have to follow the reason and research of the traditional culture - low seating (or no seating) concept of the ancient times. Without hurting any individual or groups' sentiments - my clients are not the ones living in small towns and villages - instead my clients (ideally) are those who live in the metros of the country and are well traveled, well aware of what they like and dont like. Do we still need to literally go back to these roots while we want to prove that India is a successful nation full of bright minds and resources? That I think is inching towards hippocracy!
As designers we are all inquisitive of the products that come out of the top of the line manufacturing companies in New York, Milan, Paris, Japan. In my opinion most of the furniture designs from the large scale manufacturers would not vary from the US to Europe in terms of it being straight lined and made available in a certain range of finishes. Yet each company will not forget to remind you how truly Italian/top of the line/superior quality their product is in terms of its design, details and manufacturing. Dont deny this fact entirely - ofcourse what they give to the design world is good and that is why they are the top companies of the world. But these companies also consult designers from all over the world including India. Then is the product Italian/Indian or is it a result of good thinking on the part of the company, good business sense and its great production line.
Are we as Indians too apologetic of our 'traditions' and 'culture'? The software engineers or scientists that have made tremendous progress in their fields across the world dont care where they come from. Should we then as designers have to explain where we or our work belong/s to? Not if it comes in the way of our potential to create products at par with the other countries. A good design cannot be the result of a nationality - it is only the idea of an individual and a society.
However not to ignore the fact that India has had its share of great designers and design researchers - in the past and today as well these people continue to great work of very diverse nature - and continue to be truthful to the design philosophies they carefully instilled in their students over the years. Where have we lacked then - unless one went to a design insitute or literlally was trained under one of the pioneers of Indian design (as we see it today), it is unlikely that one heard of the word design beyond its 'superfluous and elitist' purview.
One finds enormous documentation on various design philosophies and isms from across the world. The Bauhaus, Ulm schools of design, Scandinavian design and infact most of the art and design movements originated in the European countries. The history of design as taught to us in the design schools very aptly covers these and the key designers involves in these movements. But it all stops there. After 60 years or more today, we as design students failed to do project reports of designers other than Charles and Ray Eames, Mies Van Der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen to name a few. We have of course learnt a great deal and they have inspired generations of designers and manufacturers giving us a number of master pieces.But ask a student who is their inspiration from the current lot of designers - and one draws a blank. Stretch your mind and you might be able to come up with 10 names? (A friend of mine and I tried it and we were blank after 4-5!)
There is a certain nature of their work that goes beyond the fact that these are well documented histories. Each of the institutions/design houses/individual designers had a strong individual identity - an extremely exciting mix of creativity and a thorough knowledge of materials. Any individual/institution or a company with the right resources can do it. We are (hopefully) already doing it - its visible from the numerous design forums - but the perception of Indian design as seen by the world has a long way to go!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Demystifying Karim Rashid
"You be who you are and participate as you want to" - Karim Rashid,11th March 09, IFF Singapore.
Its a rare occasion when a one of the most well-known designers and a 'subject' of your school projects is infront of you giving a talk at a seminar. I call it rare because being able to attend a seminar by Karim Rashid was more than a mere co-incidence. Neither had I any clue of him being the guest speaker when I registered for the IFF09 (registered soon after the mailers and paid up without batting an eyelid or availing any of the special offers) nor when we took up the task of researching his work for one of our studio projects (Form 3 - 2nd year NID).
The one hour seminar demystified a lot of myths - about Karim Rashid the designer and about design process per se. I admit at the time of the studio project, my understanding of his work was restricted to forms, colour and to an extent material exploration. These are the terms a student learns anyway. These got translated into wacky, crazy and unreal projects that were seen under his signature. But my student brain could not see beyond it then.
Below is a brief summary of what I picked up from the talk. At the end of the post it will be hopefully evident (already is for me) that 'Karim Rashid' is a signature because he truly believes in his words (beginning of the post).
Do note that this is going to be a compilation of sorts/pointers from what he said and I gathered and not my inferences. Might seem disconnected at many places but I do not want to dilute the essence of what he said by including my inference.
"Global Village/Global Landscape"
Design has been perceived as a problem solving exercise. But it goes beyond the utilitarian - it extends to 'Performance' and 'Poetics'.
In the 80s it was a commodity. A number of schools were involved in experimentation/product semantics etc. This in a way was to 'Liberate' design and it became more poetic.
Design became 'Elite'. It was now unreachable and inaccessible. (with changing markets) Companies that wanted to do radical or original work were small players. The big players didn't want designers as they thought that would shrink their market.
Meanwhile architectural design became completely theoretical. Real world was different from the theoretical institutional work.
The world of art too became more and more elite. Poetic fantasy and imagination is not the leading force anymore. Today the real world is way ahead of the imaginative world - it has flipped. Remember a time when films and characters of the likes of James Bond were fiction. Today we possess and live most of those products.
For the manufacturers - the consumers are today ready for anything. It was strongly believed that technology would dehumanise us - it hasn't. Technology has democratised creativity.
As a child, each one of us is an artist and as we grow the society expects us to conform to certain notions and that makes us 'less creative'.
An artist is in the pursuit of the original and progress & innovation is about creativity.
Will design suffer in the wake of the economic crisis?
It is the built environment that has to be made better. Contribution of design is extensive.
If you could build one better/successful product, you could eliminate 10 products from your catalogs - Addition by Subtraction
The digital age gave us the intangible. Physical world is obviously not evolving at the same speed.
Make things that mirror the digital age. Can an object have the same passions and emotions as humans. In the technological world - yes. In the physical world - maybe not. Physical world looks tired and feels like the last century. (this was in the context of his choice of using bright colours in his work and launching the range Pinker pinker.com )
The physical world gave us a number of products - the high heel - don't most of us find that uncomfortable or the car - to get in and out of one itself can be inconvenient.
It is hence important to see the human being at the centre of the stage.
Take advantage of the dormant artistic gene and we could make a comfortable world.
We are in a new casual age - which is self expressive. We are all individuals - you are who you are and you can participate the way you want to. The way forward is to think that's what we are here for!
A point of argument - if we make the material world better - the rest of the world would become redundant. Will it? You will still need a bed to sleep in, plates to eat in and so on.
Eg: A stemmed glass served to the guests on board a flight has the risk of shaking during turbulence - what if the glass was made in the shape of a cone. (That is thoughtful innovation and not just a different form for a glass).
This talk was also summarised by Ms Kelly Chang in few words - " Create your design, your own thinking - that is what will make your design special. Feel free to express yourself - that is what made him a signature"
We have to put our signature put there. That in short is what I took back with me (and ofcourse a number of photographs of the design guru himself - dressed in pink from top to bottom!)
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Going the 'green' way
How far are we ready to go to reduce the carbon footprint. The "Go green" philosophy has been around for years and now is probably when we should have started seeing the results. We are still setting time lines and aiming to reach a certain figure in the next 20 years.
Its true each one of us can do it in our small little way. But the realization of it alone is obviously not enough. This is my beginning and the first step is Recycled materials.
A few points to remember:
One time creations?
We all have seen quirky one-off sculptures made from recycled materials but it is a decent bet that most designers don’t think about the possibilities of creating lines of recycled furniture. With so many materials going to waste in droves it seems a shame not to think big about how to give these a new life. While many of these are still mostly conceptual a lot of them have potential beyond being whimsical one-time creations.
http://myartfullife.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/origami-furniture/
Its true each one of us can do it in our small little way. But the realization of it alone is obviously not enough. This is my beginning and the first step is Recycled materials.
A few points to remember:
One time creations?
We all have seen quirky one-off sculptures made from recycled materials but it is a decent bet that most designers don’t think about the possibilities of creating lines of recycled furniture. With so many materials going to waste in droves it seems a shame not to think big about how to give these a new life. While many of these are still mostly conceptual a lot of them have potential beyond being whimsical one-time creations.
http://myartfullife.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/origami-furniture/
2010
2010 is here! Running high on optimism it sure feels like a new good start. Like the 3 idiots said "Aall is well" :)
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